Prisoners restricted from jobs in schools

Killer on crew prompts review

ENGLAND -- State prison inmates working for Arkansas Correctional Industries will no longer be allowed to work in schools when children are present without approval from both school and prison officials.

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The policy change stems from the reaction by school officials and state lawmakers to the news that an inmate who tortured and killed a teenager in 1974 spent time last week installing gym equipment at Cabot Junior High North.

While school officials knew that an inmate work crew from the Department of Correction was on campus, they didn't realize that one of the prisoners was convicted in 1975 of murdering an 18-year-old female in Lonoke County.

On Friday, however, The Leader -- which covers north Pulaski, Lonoke and White counties -- reported that trusty Glen Martin Green was part of that work crew.

This prompted not only a public outcry but also an immediate reaction from the Department of Correction.

The new policy states that "no inmate may work on school property anytime minors are present regardless of whether school is in session unless approved by the school superintendent and the warden of the unit where the inmate is assigned," spokesman Shea Wilson said.

Inmates working for Arkansas Correctional Industries often install the products that they manufacture. Their goods can be found at the state Capitol, in the offices of state agencies and at public schools across the state.

The agency already was reviewing its policies regarding trusties -- inmates who are given special privileges for good behavior -- in the wake of convicted murderer Timothy Buffington's escape in June. Buffington, who was recaptured Friday, fled while doing maintenance work at a home on prison grounds.

Buffington, 48, was serving a 20-year sentence for killing his ex-wife. He entered prison in 1998 and, until June, had a spotless disciplinary record, officials said. Green also had a clean record.

At a joint meeting of the House and Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs committees Wednesday, legislators grilled Department of Correction Director Ray Hobbs and Arkansas Board of Corrections Chairman Benny Magness about both the Cabot incident and the department's trusty policies.

"I'm seeking from you some general comments to see if we can allay some fears about what happened in Cabot," said state Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, chairman of the Senate committee and former mayor of Cabot. "There are 40 other schools that have been visited in the last 90 days ... and I'd like to know what classification of inmates were allowed on those trips."

During a heated round of questioning, Hobbs first told legislators that Green had never been outside prison walls as a trusty before the Cabot incident. After conferring with staff members, however, he amended his statement to say that Green had been out with work crews eight to 10 times since July 21.

Hobbs said the department began reviewing all trusties on the day that Buffington escaped.

"Inside staff and wardens know that murderers usually make the best trusties," Hobbs said. "They are going to be there a long time. You are going to train them for a job, a long-standing job, because you don't have any turnover. But we recognize, we need ... it doesn't make a good PR classification when you're dealing with a murderer."

Hobbs said that while going over the list of trusties, he came across Green and asked a warden to remove the inmate from off-site assignments.

"They advised me he was a trusty back in the 1990s. And I said, 'Certainly, he'll never go out on a job,'" Hobbs said. "That was back in July. When I heard it the other day, I knew I had this conversation with the warden. So, we apologize for the miscommunication. We're reviewing a list of all trusty assignments, and we're doing that systemwide."

This isn't the first time that Green, who turns 61 this weekend, has been the subject of controversy since entering the prison system.

In 2004, then-Gov. Mike Huckabee announced that he planned to overrule the state Parole Board -- which had voted unanimously against recommending clemency for Green -- and make Green eligible for immediate release. Huckabee said he based his decision on the advice of his longtime friend and fellow Baptist minister, the Rev. Johnny Jackson of Little Rock.

According to Arkansas Democrat-Gazette archives, Jackson told Huckabee that he had done his own investigation and concluded that Green accidentally ran over Helen Lynette Spencer at Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville, got scared and dumped her body in a creek in Lonoke County. Jackson called Green a "poster boy for rehabilitation."

But retired Jacksonville police Sgt. Don Egelhoff, the lead detective on the 1974 killing, described Green as an "animal" who showed no remorse and would be a threat to society if released.

Egelhoff said he believed Green intended to rape Spencer when he attacked her. When she struggled, Green hit her with martial arts fighting sticks before stuffing her in his car and driving to an isolated location in Lonoke County. He then crushed her head by running over her with his car and kicked her into a creek.

Green admitted killing Spencer in a lengthy confession to police.

According to the investigative file, Spencer had stopped by the air base to see her boyfriend, who was a sergeant. While waiting for him, she went to a recreation room where Green was sleeping. But Green, who was also a sergeant, awoke to see her briefly.

"I was thirsty all at once, like my insides were on fire," Green said of his reaction to seeing her. "I felt a power in me that seemed like it wanted out."

He then went outside, saw a "shadow" and "felt a fury ... I saw myself hitting the girl on the head with my [nunchakus]."

After taking her to Lonoke County, "I said to myself, 'You must be a sick son of a b****.' I remember screaming at the moon and the darkness."

He then ran over the girl's head with his 1965 Ford Thunderbird and kicked her into the creek.

Egelhoff said the autopsy also revealed she was one month pregnant.

Huckabee changed his mind about releasing Green after hearing from an angry public and prosecutors, many of whom still remembered the case vividly.

On Wednesday, Williams asked how someone like Green would ever be allowed to work at a school.

Under the prison system's old policy, sex offenders weren't allowed to work off site, Magness said. Nor will they be allowed to do so under the new one.

Green, however, isn't considered a sex offender because he was convicted only of first-degree murder.

Williams pressed Magness on the issue, saying, "We're mincing words, and I don't want to do that. I want to be very clear and direct. If we're doing the proven background research on a person, we can mince words and say he was convicted of murder, but the details of what he did should have put him in the same category as a sex offender."

Williams asked Lonoke County Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Graham to clarify the crime Green confessed to.

"I wasn't the prosecutor in 1974 ... but he gave a detailed confession and pled guilty to the murder," Graham said. "It's one of the most disturbing things I've read in my life. When these things come up and I'm not involved, I always pull the file. We keep murder cases, those kinds of things, forever.

"I went through it and looked at all the crime scene photos. In my opinion, this guy is a monster that never needs to see the light of day. He gave a seven-page confession."

Graham said he didn't think any prison inmates -- regardless of their crimes -- should be around kids at schools.

"Why would we ever want to do that? I don't care if he's in there for drugs, burglary, murder, rape, whatever it is. I don't think that any kid should see that in the school."

But state lawmakers are the ones who opened the door allowing inmates to work in schools.

During the 2009 session, they expanded a bill allowing goods produced by the Department of Correction's industry division to be bought by school-district employees.

On Wednesday, state Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, also challenged Hobbs' logic that murderers make the best trusties.

"I would just seem to me, if you are a guy who's locked up and you're not getting out, to me that seems like the guy with the real incentive to escape," he said. "Opposed to a guy who may be getting out in a year or two, they would have the real incentive to maybe stick out their time and be released. So I don't understand exactly the philosophy that murderers make better trusties. That seems like that may be a flawed philosophy."

Hobbs said Buffington had three years left on his murder sentence when he escaped and noted that inmates have all different situations that cause them to try to run, regardless of the time they have left on their sentence.

"I've seen them with parole papers in their hand, going home next week and they run out the door," he said. "But we try to get the more mature prisoners as trusties."

A Section on 09/25/2014

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